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Followers of Nagash Emblem Total War Warhammer

Emblem of the Followers of Nagash as seen in Total War: Warhammer II

The Nagashi[1a], also called Nagashites[2a], are those that rever the Great Necromancer Nagash as a god.

Overview[]

Nagash had a dim view on the nehekharan gods in his lifetime, viewing them as parasites that leeched of his people's faith and kept them in subservience. After he became the king of Khemri, worship of the nehekharan gods was quickly forbidden and replaced with worshipping Nagash. His inner circle, those he had tutored in Necromancy, referred to him as "The Living God",[3a] since he had apparently defeated death. The rest of the nehekharan people saw this as heresy and an affront against the covenant between gods and men, and it inspired the kings of Nehekhara to unite against his rule and cast him down, together with the innumerable other offenses Nagash had comitted against the gods and the people of the Great Land.

In exile, Nagash wandered to Cripple Peak. where he began to harvest Warpstone for his plans. The local barbarians were subdued and soon, they began to sacrifice to him. Perhaps out of vanity, Nagash took their adulations and civilized them in a manner befitting to his plans. Soon, the new nation of Nagashites grew into a powerful empire.[1a] The proximity of warpstone, however, lead to a slow degeneration and mutations became widespread. While Nagash was unconcerned with the suffering of his vassals, he feared losing them to the Chaos Gods. To avoid it, he decreed that the tribes in his service should feast on the flesh of the recently dead. The Dark Feast resulted in even more degeneration and the human tribes around Cripple Peak transformed into the first ghouls.The remnants of these still haunt the Desolation of Nagash.[1b]

In Nehekhara, the princess of Lahmia, Neferatem, had become enarmoured with Nagash and his teachings. Creating the Elixir of Life, she was transformed into the first vampire. The vampires worshipped Nagash at the Temple of Blood with the population in turn worshipping the vampires as manifest gods.[1c] After their god was revealed to be alive after the destruction of Lahmia, the appeal of worshipping him and be enslaved to him forever quickly faded, with most of the first vampires fleeing when they get the chance, save for W'soran. Neferatem, now known as Neferata, never forgave Nagash that he did make her consort Vashanesh lord over all vampires, and not her. Today, most vampires view Nagash with a mixture of disdain and fear, rarely resorting to outright worshipping him.

After Nagash's second defeat, the civilization of Mourkain arose under the guidance of the shaman Kadon, who possessed the Crown of Sorcery, a relic of Nagash that was infused by a part of his will. Driven by the crown, Kadon installed a cult that worshipped Nagash as a god, with himself as his prophet.[1d] When Ushoran usurped Mourkain, he installed the vampiric religion of Lahmia, worshipping Nagash in name only. With the end of the Strygos empire due to Neferatas intrigues, the center of the Nagashi was destroyed and no following civilization would adopt the Great Necromancer as their main god.

In the modern days, only a handful of people continue to worship Nagash. One of them are the Qu’rashi nomads of Araby.[3a] In their legends, Nagash was rescued by their ancestors after he was banished from Khemri. Nagash embodied the nomadic ideals of cunning and resourcefulness, but the traditional views on the sanctity of the dead hindered the elders of the Qu'rashi to accept his Elixir. Eventually, Nagash was accepted as a full member of the tribe and permitted to marry his true love. Soon after, the Great Necromancer’s last child was born. It is probable this child lived and died without ever knowing the significance of his infamous heritage. When his wife died, Nagash went to search for the realm of Morr. The Qu'rashi believe that Nagash was guided in his life by Morr as Sigmar had been guided Ulric and that he attained apotheosis in a similar manner to the man-god that had founded the Empire.[3b]

Prominent Nagashi[]

Source[]

  • 1: Liber Necris (Background Book)
    • 1a: pg. 19
    • 1b: pg. 21
    • 1c: pg. 42
    • 1d: pg. 55
  • 2: Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition)
  • 3: Nagash the Sorcerer (Novel), by Mike Lee
  • 4: Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- The Thousand Thrones
    • 4a: pg. 156
    • 4b: pg. 157
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